A gender-based analysis of the occupational transition of youth in Brazilian metropolitan areas

Ana F. Machado, Federico L. Barbosa de Melo, Mariangela Rangel Penido

Abstract

This paper looks at sex differences in occupational trajectories of 20-30 year olds in metropolitan areas in Brazil.. The analysis of trajectories is done using the Pesquisa Mensal de Emprego – a longitudinal Monthly Employment Survey (PME/IBGE) conducted in Brazil between 2002 and 2007. The Grade of Membership (GoM) method was used to produce a typology. In order to produce the trajectory profiles, we used more than twenty string variables. The key variables among these that defined the groups are: occupational status, position in the family, level of education and per capita household income. The results show that there are five profiles that cover almost 100% of the sample. Analysing the individuals’ characteristics in each profile, we can classify them as “person excluded from work”, “precarious occupied workers”, “vulnerable occupied workers”, “hard workers” and “promising youth”. Young women predominate in the worst status profile (“people excluded from work”) and are in the same proportion in the best type (“promising youth”). Even analyzing the transitions, the female condition does not improve. In the exit towards occupation status, coming from unemployment and inactivity, there is a majority of men. Women, when moving, pass to inactive status. Only in “promising youth” profile, women transit more frequently into occupation than men.